Get Your Data From Social Media

Dr Nicola Thomas is an Associate Professor in Marketing at De Montfort University, Leicester UK. Nicola teaches several research-oriented modules, including dissertations and research projects, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She enjoys teaching and researching using different research methods, both quantitative and qualitative in approach. In more recent years, Nicola has become particularly excited about the potential of working with a variety of social media data and the rich insights this type of data can bring. A common thread running through both her teaching and research is sustainability, including transparency, ecosystem health and social justice. Therefore, Nicola places an important emphasis on embedding sustainability within the curriculum, workplace practices and publications.

Can social media data meet my research needs? How do I gather and use social media data ethically? What social media data do I need? How do I build an effective sampling strategy? How do I extract data from social media platforms? What steps should I take to plan my data collection?